Start tomorrow today

An evening routine is a great way to set yourself up to experience an awesome tomorrow. A relaxing bath, a yummy glass of warm, spiced milk or maybe even some journaling are a few actions that could make the morning great. Another great choice is yoga, right there in your bed.

Asanas to do before going to Sleep:

Here are a few asanas that you can do before going to sleep that may help you rest better.

1. Jathara Parivartanasana

Jathara means stomach; Parivartanasana means turning or rolling about. If you come to my classes, it is no surprise that I love this pose. Of all the poses, I think this pose and its variations are responsible for keeping me flexible. I always practice this pose before going to sleep and have for the past 20 something years. Ease into it if it is your first time exploring this pose.

Steps:
1. Lie on your back with your legs extended.
2. Draw your knees up into your chest one at a time and wrap your arms around your legs, hugging them. Rock side to side to massage the back.
3. Continue holding onto your right knee with both hands and extend your left leg all the way out onto the bed.
4. With your left hand on the right knee, draw the right knee across the left side of the body towards the bed. Keep both shoulders down and extend the left arm straight away from the body.
5. Hold for a few breaths or until the back releases, (or relax and enjoy for a few minutes). Inhale, bring both knees and head back to center, and repeat on the other side.

Modifications and Props:
• Use a blanket under the knee if you feel you need some support (so your knee isn’t just hanging there).

Variations:
• Take both knees to the left and hold the right knee down with the left hand. Release your back. Hold for a few breaths and come back to center. Repeat on the other side.

2. Thread the Needle Pose

I have really tight shoulders from biking, especially the rhomboids (muscles between the shoulder blades). This pose helps to stretch them so that prāna can have a head start in healing this tricky part of the back.

Steps:
1. Start in table position.
2. Weave the left arm under the right and place straight away from the body, as you twist through the lumbar and thoracic spine, place the shoulder on the floor.
3. Lift right arm up towards the ceiling and intensify the stretch.
4. Keep the majority of the weight on the shoulder to create the traction for the stretch.
5. Repeat other side.

Modifications and props:
• Place a blanket on the bed and place the shoulder on it if padding is needed.
• Can be made into a balance by lifting the leg on the same side as the arm that is lifted.

3. Supta Virasana

Supta means lying down, vira means hero. I always say that “no pain, no gain” is such a washed up theory. You shouldn’t have to experience pain in order to manifest what you need. That is silly. This pose, however, shoots holes in my theory if the legs and back are not ready for it. So one of the best places to try it out is on your bed, where the mattress can give space when the muscles and tendons do not. Use blankets and pillows for comfort.

Steps:
1. Start in Virasana (Hero’s pose).
2. Exhale and lean back onto your hands, then your forearms and elbows.
3. Once you are on your elbows, place your hands on the back of the pelvis and release your lower back and upper buttocks by spreading the flesh down toward the tailbone.
4. Then finish reclining, either onto the bed or the support of blankets or bolsters. Take both arms out to the side.
5. Stay in this pose for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Gradually extend your stay to 5 minutes. To come out of the pose, inhale and press your forearms against the bed, exhale and bring your chin towards your chest and come onto your hands back into Virasana. As you come up, lead with your sternum, not your head or chin.

Modifications and Propping:
• If you’re not able to recline fully on the bed, set a bolster or one or more folded blankets behind yourself to fully support your spine and head.
• Use as much height as you need to make the position reasonably comfortable.
• To help release the groins, lay some weight across the creases of the top thighs where they join the front pelvis.
• Start with a 10-pound sandbag and gradually over time increase the weight to 30 pounds or so.

Variations:
• Before doing Supta Virasana you can start with its halfway variation, Supta Ardha Virasana (Ardhameans half). To sit in Ardha Virasana, draw just your right leg back into Virasana. You can keep your left knee bent with the foot on the floor, or straighten your left leg by pushing out through the heel. Then recline as described above, either onto a support or the bed. Come out as recommended for Supta Virasana, then repeat with the left leg back.

4. Viparita Karani

Viparita means turned around, reversed, inverted; karani means doing, making, action. This is every body’s favorite pose. It is not only good for relaxation, but I could write an entire blog on the benefits this pose has when it comes to your lymphatic (immune) system. Proper propping is a must here. Go for the joy, bliss and just ahhh factor.

Steps:
1. Take two folded blankets placing the raw edges against a wall. Sit with your right side against the wall or headboard and your back against the blankets. Exhale, and with one smooth movement, and swing your legs up onto the wall or headboard as your bottom comes up onto the blankets and your shoulders and head slide down onto the bed.
2. Your sitting bones don’t need to be right against the wall, but they can be “dipping” down into the space between the support and the wall or headboard.
3. Lift and release the base of your skull away from the back of your neck and soften your throat. Open your shoulder blades away from the spine and release your hands and arms out to your sides, palms up.
4. Keep your legs relatively firm, just enough to hold them vertically in place. Release the heads of the thigh bones and the weight of your belly deeply into your torso, toward the back of the pelvis. Soften your eyes and turn them down to look into your heart.
5. Stay in this pose anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes. To come out of the pose, slide the legs down the wall (headboard), bend the knees and slowly sit up.

Variations:
• If you have enough wall space, you can slide your legs apart into a wide “V” to stretch your inner thighs and groins.
• You also can bend your knees, touch the soles of your feet together, and slide the outer edges of your feet down the wall, bringing your heels toward the pelvis.
• Then you can push your hands against the top inner thighs to stretch the groins.
• Remember, however, never push on your knees to open the groins.

5. Savasana

Sava means corpse (Corpse Pose). This is a great way to balance your prāna before you move to your favorite sleep position.

Steps:
1. From a seated position, roll down one vertebrae at a time, flex the knees as you roll down. Once your back is on the bed, straighten the legs. Allow the legs to open naturally. Lightly lift your buttocks off the bed by pushing down with your hands and lengthen through the lumbar spine. Lower the buttocks back to the bed.
2. Dorsi flex the right foot and lengthen the leg. Plantar flex the foot and hold for a couple of seconds. Then relax muscles in the leg, the ankle, and toes. Do the same for the left leg. Allow the calf and inner thigh to release. Leg may turn outwards naturally.
3. Lengthen the arms above your head for a long stretch, and then take them towards the ceiling as you open up your back, allowing the shoulder blades to stretch away from the spine. Bring the hands down by your sides with the palms facing the ceiling. Spread the fingers and then relax the shoulders and hands.
4. Bringing the chin to the chest, stretch the neck. Then lay the head back to the bed. Relax the jaw and soften the tongue off the top of the mouth.
5. Taking long deep breaths, allow the body to release any tension that remains in the body.
6. Stay in Savasana for 5-15 minutes. When you are ready to come out of the pose, take a couple of deep breaths, wiggle toes and fingers, and when ready, roll to the right side for a couple of breaths. By pressing the left hand into the bed, slowly push yourself up to seated position.

Modifications and propping:
• You can use a folded blanket or towel under the neck for comfort. You can also use an eye cover to help with relaxation.
• If it hurts your lower back to keep legs straight, you can place a folded blanket or bolster under the knees.
• If it hurts legs to allow them to turn outward, you can use a strap around the feet to keep the hips turned forward.

I think you will enjoy your “before you go to bed” poses so much that upon waking, you will want to do a few more asana to transition into the day centered and balanced. Watch for my next article on Yoga Asanas to do in Bed when you Wake up.

Are you like so many other women who find that as you grow older that you have more aches and pains than you used to? After years of lifting kids, groceries, carrying heavy laundry baskets, house cleaning, of standing on your feet or sitting in an uncomfortable chair all day at work, does your back ache more than it used it to?

Do you find it necessary to see a chiropractor or a massage therapist to help you cope with your aching back? Are you taking pain medication or muscle relaxers for your back pain? Treating back pain is a multi-million-dollar industry and growing.

Millions of people suffer from back pain, especially as they get older. There are many causes for back pain. It could be due to aging and damaged discs in your back. I know from experience.

From the base of your skull and down, your spine has 23 intervertebral discs. There are 6 cervical discs in the neck, 12 thoracic discs in the upper and middle back and 5 lumbar discs in the lower back They act as cushions and spacers between the vertebra and are important in allowing space for nerves and blood vessels to radiate out from the spine to the rest of the body.

Personally, 11 of my 23 discs are damaged and yes, I live with constant back pain. One of my lumbar discs has a slight herniation. Three of my cervical discs are herniated and 2 more are bulging. Then there are five thoracic discs right between my shoulder blades that have been compressed nearly flat. As a result, I not only suffer from back pain, but have regular pinched nerves in my neck and muscle spasms in my back and neck/shoulder. It has left me with limited range of motion of my right arm and sometimes tingling and numbness in several of the fingers on my right hand.

Trust me, I am very familiar with back pain. However, pain medications are no help to me as I have a genetic immunity to the majority of pain killers. I’ve visited a chiropractor and have to admit that he’s very good, but as soon as I get home and try to resume normal activities, most of what the chiropractor has fixed becomes unfixed. I’ve tried acupuncture and have to admit I was a huge skeptic at first. However, I found that acupuncture did relieve a lot of my back pain and for the first couple of nights after treatment, I actually came close to getting a good night’s sleep for the first time in years. But the acupuncture is like the chiropractor, once I resume my normal activities, it’s all undone and the back pains return.

Back specialists and surgeons have told me that surgery is not an option due to the fact that so many of my discs, and one of my vertebra, are damaged and that it would take too much surgery and probably reduce my flexibility a great deal.

Consequently, I have learned to live with the pain, although there are many days that it’s difficult to function, but I do the best I can. That’s why this latest study caught my attention and may be something I’ll have to look into.

So, what is the possible natural way to relieve some or all back pain? According to this study, the answer is yoga, tai chi and/or massage therapy:

“Who was in the study? Researchers recruited 320 racially diverse, predominantly low-income participants in the Boston area, all of whom had chronic low back pain. The study lasted one year.”

“What did participants in the study do? Participants were divided into three groups. One group was assigned to a weekly yoga class for 12 weeks. Another group was assigned 15 physical therapy (PT) visits. The third group received an educational book and newsletters. For the remainder of the year — roughly 40 weeks — participants in the yoga group were assigned to either drop-in classes or home practice. The PT group was assigned to either “PT booster sessions” or home practice.”

“The skinny: Researchers assessed changes in pain and function using a 23-point questionnaire. The participants in the yoga and physical therapy groups had about the same amount of improvement in pain and functioning over time.”

“When the study began, about 70 percent of the patients were taking some form of pain medication. At the end of three months, when the yoga classes were wrapping up, the percentage of yoga and PT participants still taking pain medication had dropped to about 50 percent. By comparison, the use of pain medication did not decline among participants in the education group.”

Rob Saper, Author of the study and Director of Integrative Medicine at Boston Medical Center said the reduction in the need for pain medication was significant, but may not be the panacea cure-all everyone hopes for. He recommended that If you do consider yoga classes, to concentrate on the ones that deal largely with poses and relaxation techniques. They are safer and help stretch the muscles in the back which helps reduce muscle inflammation and pain.

“PT is the most common referral that physicians make for patients with back pain. It’s accepted, it’s reimbursed, and it’s offered in most hospitals.”

However, yoga may be longer lasting if practiced on a regular basis, whereas physical therapy can be short lived and sessions limited. Saper recommends that more healthcare insurance companies provide coverage for yoga classes as that they may not only save the insurance company money in the long run, but gives the person something they can use for the rest of their lives to help fight back pain. Yoga can be a win-win natural medical aid for those of you with back pain.